Hi, my name is George Watts. I’m a BWY yoga teacher with a hankering for handouts. I absolutely love creating handouts for my yoga students. I hope the “Camel Pose Handout” becomes a useful addition to your yoga teacher tool-bag.

Free Camel Pose Download

This is just 1 of 250+ yoga class handouts included as a bonus within the Yoga Teacher Lesson Plan Kit. With this epic bonus, you’ll be able to download an MS Word Document with 450+ pages of yoga class handouts. It’s taken me years to create this document. They include all the “yoga class handouts” that I’ve created for my own yoga classes over the years. And the best part is that you’ll be able to edit every single one of the handouts. For example, you might want to put your logo on the handouts, or edit the descriptions a bit to add your own style. Your students will love receiving them.

6 Steps To Teach Camel Pose With A Poet’s Heart

Step 1Teach The Sanskrit

UstrasanaUṣṭra = camel Asana = posture

Don’t be afraid to teach your students the Sanskrit, but make sure you make it fun to learn. How is that possible you may ask? Well, I do it by using the same memory tricks as the memory champions. All you need to do is associate the Sanskrit name with a bizarre story. Here’s how I ask my students to remember Ustrasana is the Sanskrit for Camel Pose….

“Imagine you’re riding on a camel in a desert. It’s well over 120 degrees and you’re beginning to get heat stroke and are seeing mirages in the distance. You look down at your camel and it’s turned into an ostrich (“ostr” sounds a bit like “ustr”). You get down off your ustrich and perform camel pose which magically turns the ustrich back into a camel.”

The more bizarre you can make the story, the better it is for the memory.

Step 2Sprinkle Symbolic Phrases

OK, now it’s time to immerse yourself in camel symbolism, which is nice to bring up while your students are practicing camel pose. It will make your class much more memorable and interesting! Here are some examples I’ve used when teaching camel pose to my yoga classes…

“Call upon the camel for strength, endurance and protection.”

“Camels transport precious cargo. What precious cargo do you have that isn’t being transported to others (e.g. a skill that isn’t being used, your friendship, your love, etc).”

“From a spiritual stand-point, camels are champions of the long-haul journey; when you next find yourself getting frustrated, practice camel in your mind or on your mat and say to yourself: ‘One step at a time. One step at a time. One step at a time’.

“Is there any journey (spiritual or physical) you’ve been meaning to take, but have been putting off?”

“Is there any pilgrimage you’d like to take (e.g. trace your family routes, walk the entire Welsh coast, etc)?”

“If you’ve had an arduous journey today (or recently), perform camel pose and take on the camel’s inspirational endurance.”

“Instead of finding the unknown journey ahead of you “daunting”, become a camel in your mind and take one step at a time…soon y0ur mind will move from fear to peace.”

“If you find yourself rushing around getting stressed, practice camel pose in your mind or on your mat to be mindful of your energy levels.

“The camel never rushes because he/she knows the eternal moment is always in the NOW. Rushing around means you miss the NOW…and miss the beauty and joy of life’s journey.”

“Whenever you feel like you’re running on empty imagine the camel helping you to fill up your energy levels.”

Camels are also known for:

Adaptive

Endurance

Humility

Journeying

Protection

Stamina

Temperance

Step 3Teach The Benefits

If you simply list out the benefits to your class, you’ll bore the socks off your students (if they had any on)! The way to spice up the benefits is to become a poet and use imagery words and phrases. For example…

The Traditional Way Practicing camel pose stretches the chest.

The Imagery Way Imagine a golden thread attached to your chest gently pulling it up towards the ceiling.

The Traditional Way Practicing camel pose calms the brain.

The Imagery Way Practicing camel pose allows your busy brain to melt like an ice cube on a sunny day.

OK, now it’s your your turn. Add some imagery to the following 7 ‘benefits’ (or you could get my Yoga Teacher Lesson Plan Kit which has over 100 imagery phrases)….

Stimulates abdominal organs, lungs, thyroid

Rejuvenates legs

Improves digestion

Helps menopause

Relieves menstrual discomfort

Reduces anxiety, fatigue, backache, headache, insomnia

Therapeutic for asthma, High blood pressure, osteoporosis, sinusitis

Step 4Teach The Precautions

If you’ve given each of your students a Student Questionnaire (I’ve included two student questionnaires within Yoga Teacher Lesson Plan Kit) and have taken the time to become familiar with each of your student’s health issues, you can give them modifications as you walk around the class observing your students.

The precautions include:

High blood pressure

Insomnia

Low back injury

Low blood pressure

Migraine

Neck injury

I remember the “camel precautions” by creating an acronym (Hill MN) and a memorable story; something like: “My camel is always cautious when climbing Hill MN because of his High Blood Pressure, Insomnia, Low back injury, Low blood pressure, Migraines and Neck injury.”

Step 5Teach Camel Pose

Teaching Tips

Beginners probably won’t be able to drop straight back, touching hands to feet, while keeping thighs perpendicular to floor…so here are some beginner tips.

Tip #1 | Poses To Prepare

Ask your students to warm up with Sphinx pose first. It’s a great preparation pose for camel because it’s a gentler backbend. They could then move onto a slightly deeper backend by practicing Cobra. Camel is one of those “advanced poses” that is best to give your students nearer the end of your class, when their back and shoulder muscles are nice and warm.

Tip #2 | Padding For Knees

Yoga isn’t meant to be torture, so make it as comfortable as possible for your students. Ask them to fold their blanket (or towel) to use as padding for their knees. For students who don’t have blankets or towels, ask them to roll up the front of their mat to use as cushioning.

Tip #3 | Easy Does It

There are some poses you can get away with rushing, but this isn’t one of them! Ask you students to imagine they are performing “camel” in the desert. It’s really, really hot, so you do it really, really slowly.

Tip #4 | Use Your Hands

There will definitely be some students in your class that won’t be able to go all the way into a full camel. So, don’t let them go all the way (reach hands to feet). Simply ask them to press their hands into their lower back.

Tip #5 | Use Yoga Blocks

You’ll have one or two students who want to go deeper into the camel, but aren’t ready to reach their hands to their feet; position blocks just outside each heel.

This post was lovingly morphed into reality by BWY yoga teacher, George Watts. If you're looking for a treasure trove of yoga lesson planning goodness, take a quick peek at Yoga Teacher Lesson Plan Kit.